just from curosity, do you use De-esser in your mixes ? i heard alot of opinions from some people that this is not a must have in the studio and that a GOOD Deesser is hard to find ... how the SPL 9692 preforms when you DO want to remove those unwanted s frequencies ?

doesent it affect overall on your final mix ?

is this the easy way to "fix" incorrect mix, would it be better to try and avoid those freq in the first place ?

I very frequencly use them on vocals. I always use plugins as the de-ess modes on some fo the compressors I have do awful things. They work better when cascaded, each with different settings if you need to grab much.

I try not to use a de-esser, but on heavily compressed vocals it is often necessary. If you can get away without it, great. If not, use one. Nothing is more annoying to me than huge in your face ess's and shhh's. Mic choice/position is often your best de-esser.

I have never met a harwadre or software de-esser that I liked. They always comprimise the vocal in some way or another usually resulting in damage to the high end. I will always try to stop sibilance at the mic with placement, vocal technique, and lastly screens or pencils if absolutely neceassary. If all those fail and the singer still has an unacceptable level of sibilance, I will wait until the final vocal take is comped together and simply make a pass of the voal track with a gain plug and reduce their volume to where I want them to be. Taking this approach to the vocal, always sound more natural, and you don't have to worry about the effect of a de-esser on your whole track.

No, a de-esser is not a must have, but it can be handy in some situations.

I had a Scamp rack that had a pair of nice de-essers once.
I found that it was handy to have in emergency situations.
If you are mixing tracks that you didn't get to eliminate "S es" from because maybe you didn't record it they can be a Godsend!

I work with a very talented vocalist who has a hint of a lisp and he has to pronounce his S es in a way that can be slightly sibilant. If he records the takes I have to use a de-esser.
This guy is VERY talented singer, but the de-esser "fixes" things a bit.